


Walk a Little Straighter

by Tillthewheelsfalloff



Series: Bleed like a Stone [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Bisexual Brunnhilde | Valkyrie (Marvel), Bonding, Fluff and Angst, Magic, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 17:55:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20012428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tillthewheelsfalloff/pseuds/Tillthewheelsfalloff
Summary: Brunnhilde shifted uncomfortably. Loki’s smile faded. “I’m actually trying going sober,” she said.Loki was taken aback. “Oh,” he exclaimed awkwardly. “How honourable.”Brunnhilde just gave him a side-glance and picked up her Dragonfang sword, twirling it around carelessly. “Don’t get too excited. I’m just trying it out.”“My excitement is contained,” he deadpanned. He conjured a short sword and jumped into a stance. She mirrored him, and they began a lazy spar. “How long has this been going on for?”“Since the post-attack party, Stark's been assisting me.”





	Walk a Little Straighter

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation of Doomed Never to Find by myself and sleepyMortiz.  
> Set during Chapter 4 (Winter) centered around Tony Stark and Valkyrie. You will need to read that first for this to make sense!  
> Enjoy!

"Stark."

Tony and Bruce turned to Valkyrie, who stood a few feet away leaning against a tree, arms crossed over her chest, wearing leather trousers and a loose fitting top. Tony grinned, cocksure. "Valkyrie. Need more booze?" He reached for his phone to tell F.R.I.D.A.Y to order some but, surprisingly, she shook her head. 

"No. No. I, uh, I wanted to cancel my regular order that goes straight to my place, or change it. Don’t cancel all the orders - I think Nyrlif would shit itself without alcohol, but I don't need any. Much." Valkyrie sighed and rolled her eyes, possibly at herself.

He wasn't sure if that counted as rambling, but it was the most he had heard her talk at once, probably the most she’d said to him since they’ve met. "You tryna to cut down?"

"Yeah. I have been cutting down slowly for the last few weeks. Y'know, about time." She shrugged, her eyes darting around them before finally settling on him almost defiantly. Come to think of it, she had been oddly quiet recently, looking at her now, Tony could see she looked tired.

Making a quick decision, he turned back to Bruce. They had been discussing what else needed repairing after the battle, the worst of it was finished, everybody has _a_ roof over their heads once more, even if it wasn’t their own roof just yet. "Can you give us a minute?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course.” Bruce eyed Valkyrie frowning. “Are you alright, Brunnhilde?”

Valkyrie teased up but then smiled softly at Bruce, Tony didn’t think he’d ever understand the weird sibling-type bond those two had formed. “I’m fine.”

“Okay… I’ll speak to Korg, let you know what he says.” He sent her another worried look as he walked back towards the community hall.

“Walk with me, Val,” Tony said putting an arm around her shoulders, leading her away from the village. She shrugged his arm off but kept walking beside him. Once they reached the edge of the main settlement he lent against a tree and asked, "You're trying to go sober?"

She shifted, looking away from him as she said, "Somewhat." 

"Can I give you some advice?" 

"You're going to no matter what I say." 

He snorted; she wasn't wrong. "Somewhat doesn’t work. If you keep drinking, even a little bit you’ll always think 'oh, one more won't hurt' and you’ll feel guilty every time you have one more but because you’re feeling guilty, you want another one.”

She lent on a tree opposite him, one knee bent with her foot pressed against it, arms crossed, defensive. “So, what? You’re saying I should quit? Completely. Never drink again.”

Tony mirrored her. “Yes.”

“I’ve been drinking since before Thor was born.”

“How have you been doing it the last couple of weeks?”

Valkyrie looked away, shame radiating off her. “I’ve tried to cut down but…”

“It’ll sucks like hell, but if it's something you're serious about, I can help you. Come up with the best way to do it for you. An… Asgardian twelve steps if you will.”

She looked back up, studying him. "Who are you to say this?"

"An ex-alcoholic."

Her eyes flashed. "Alcoholic? What’s that?"

"Somebody that's addicted to drink. Alcohol. I quit altogether and," he said, then paused to run his hand through his hair as the urge to drink reared its ugly head. "And it sucks Val, I won't lie to ya. But it's better in the long run." 

"I've seen you drink,” Valkyrie accused.

"Non-alcoholic beers. I don't want to draw attention to it and end up with the Avengers asking questions - being sympathetic or, God, _pitying_. Only Rhodey and Pepper know. Oh and Bruce, only because he’s oddly observant."

"Pepper?" 

"My fiancé." 

Val rose an eyebrow seeming genuinely surprised. "You've not mentioned her before." 

"I think this is the longest conversations we've had,” he pointed out. She smirked and gave a shrug. “Why do you want to quit?" 

"Why did you quit?" Valkyrie shot back.

"I was drinking to the point I'd be dead in five years. Plus, I watched videos of myself drunk.” Tony hesitated. He wasn’t proud of what he had seen, how he had been but he felt like he needed to tell her, that she wasn’t alone. “I was a fucking embarrassment at times."

Valkyrie sighed. "A concerned citizen found me after the fight. Helped me home. It was the first time that's ever happened," she admitted, pushing herself off the tree and started walking again. "Loki kindly pointed out I do fuck all around here, and now _that_ happens. I need to be better."

“You help with the militia?" he offered, following her. 

"I was too drunk or hungover to go to most of the meetings. If I had gone... Maybe more would have lived." 

"I left for a while ‘cause Cap was here. Maybe if I had been here at the start, more would have lived. Maybe if Loki hadn't been a dick the last month or so, more would have lived. If I had brought Cap’s shield... if, if, _if_. It’s not all on you Val. Don’t let yourself do that. I have enough experience in it and all it does is make things worse.”

He watched her for a moment. She walked quickly, jaw working but she didn't speak. For once he held his tongue, knowing this was something she needed to think about. Quitting wasn’t something one could do on a whim.

They reached her cabin and she led him inside. It was small, but well decorated. Homey. It was the first time he had been inside her cabin since the plumbing was being done, and had expected it to be more Viking-like, enemy’s bones and whatnot. But this looked like an average young adult’s apartment with a few more handmade objects such as some wood carved animals on the top of the fireplace, with her short sword taking place of pride.

"I never asked, how'd you get such a sweet dig?" 

"What?" 

"This section,” he clarified, gesturing outside to the woods. “You weren't here for a while and then managed to snag it a great area, near the lake, on your own? Most people still share."

"Most Aesir wanted to stay in the center. Nobody likes being far from our people, other than me." 

Tony made a noncommittal noise. He noticed a drawn picture of her on the side table. “Cap do that?” 

“Hmm?” She followed his gaze. “No. Loki. The Captain gave it to me though, a few days ago. Apparently Loki used his drawing materials.”

“I didn’t know he could draw.” 

“There’s a lot you don’t know about him,” Valkyrie said, suddenly sounding defensive.

“True.” Tony picked up the half empty bottle of vodka from the table. "So, you serious about this?" 

She eyed him warily, silent for a few moments and finally nodded. "Yeah." 

He grinned toothily at her and took the bottle into the kitchen, opening it up and pushed back the urge to take a sip, instead he poured it straight down the sink. 

“What the fuck?!” Valkyrie yelled, grabbing his left wrist painfully tight and pulling it back, twisting his elbow. _Fuck,_ she was _strong_.

“Getting rid of the temptation.” He hoped his voice wasn’t as strained as it felt as she held the already painful wrist.

“Give it to the rest of the settlement, don’t waste good stuff!” Brunnhilde shouted.

“If you let go of my arm I’m pretty sure I’ll agree to anything right now.” Her grip was becoming excruciating, he was listening out for a crack of the bones.

She released his wrist raising an eyebrow. “You wouldn’t do well under torture.”

He just grinned again and pushed down the memories that always came when someone spoke that word; it was almost like a black hole in his vocabulary, where speaking it himself would drag him back to Afghanistan and that fucking cave.

He put the vodka down and rubbed at his wrist, feeling the bruise starting the form. “I’ve done fine in the past. Pour out the rest of that. We’ll take the rest to the community hall.”

“I can finish it another way,” Valkyrie said, slyly.

“Val, if you’re serious about this--” 

“Fine.” She snatched the bottle from the side and poured it down the sink, looking forlorn. “The rest are in there,” she pointed, “or in the fridge.” 

Tony gathered as many as he could carry, especially with a pained wrist, feeling rather impressed at her collection.

“One sec,” Tony put a hand to his earcomm. “Friday, send over 47. Val, open the door, he’ll be here in a sec.”

Valkyrie rose an eyebrow but she left the kitchen to open the door.

Whilst she was gone Tony spoke quietly into earpiece, “Friday, clear my schedule of anything that isn’t completely necessary for at least this week. I get the feeling I’m gonna have my hands full. Tell Pepper I’ll call her later to explain.”

“Done, boss,” Friday replied.

Valkyrie came back out carrying two of the Stark Industries crates. “We can carry more back this way.”

Tony grinned at her. “Now you’re getting it.”

Valkyrie’s scowl was quickly wiped off her face as an Iron Man suit walked through the door making her jump. Tony wanted to find that funny, but the fact of it being so easy to make her jump meant she was way off her game.

“We can carry even more this way. You got another box?”

Valkyrie left to get one. Tony waved his hand to open the suit and started piling bottles within, ignoring the ache in his wrist.

They worked in silence, he could see Valkyrie occasionally hesitate, attempt to hide a bottle and then shake her head and place it in the box. Tony decided not to mention it; this was something she had to do herself. He couldn’t force her.

They managed to fit everything inside his suit and the boxes, Tony pushed the heaviest box for it was in front of his suit and connected to it so when he bent to pick up lighter one, his suit mirrored him to pick up it’s own box.

He put most of the weight onto his right arm and grinned at her. “ _Andiamo magnifici_.”

Valkyrie lifted an eyebrow. “The fuck was that voice?”

“Italian. Wait, you have that All-speak thing, don’t you?” Valkyrie nodded as she led the way out, Tony quickened his pace to keep up with her. “So can you tell if I’m speaking another language?”

The Iron Man suit followed behind them as they walked into the forest, its arms bent as if holding an imaginary box in a mirror image of Tony, the glass clinking within.

“Oh, that’s what you were doing.” She shrugged, her own box of bottles clinked loudly together. “Not really no. I can hear your voice is different, but that’s about it.”

“Is Allspeak a teachable thing?” Tony asked. He was curious but he also wanted to keep her distracted from thinking about what they were doing.

Valkyrie snorted. “I doubt it, human minds are likely too simple. It would overwhelm you.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m something of a genius around here.”

“It’s nothing to do with your intelligence. You still have the mind of a human.”

“What do you mean by that?” Tony tried not to get too annoyed, it was rare for somebody to belittle his intelligence.

Valkyrie thought for a moment. “Allspeak is an ability such as Thor’s lightning or Asgardian strength. A gift, I think, one the Aesir have only given to the old races.”

“And it lets you speak and read in any language?”

“Most, not all. There are a few languages that have a different… frame of reference. We could learn the majority of those as electives.”

“Elective? Like, in a school?”

Valkyrie laughed, a genuine one this time. She had a nice laugh, Tony noticed. “Yes, Stark, we had schools. Did you just think we were born with knowledge or something?” She ducked under a branch and held it up for Tony.

“Honestly hadn’t given it much thought. I can’t imagine Thor sitting behind a desk.” Tony chuckled at the image of the big guy attempting to squeeze into one of those tiny fixed desks. “He must have been the school jock.”

“Jock?”

“Athlete. Captain of the football team, or whatever sport was popular in Asgard.”

“Ah. Most likely, yes.”

“Loki the chess nerd. Oh, fuck, we totally would have been friends at school.” Tony despaired at the thought.

“They had much higher education than the average Asgardian. For obvious reasons.”

“So, like a private and public school type thing?”

“What’s the difference?”

“Funding mainly,” Tony explained, “Parents pay for their kids to go to a private school. Whereas public schools are state funded. Money makes a big difference in the quality of learning.”

“No, all of our schools were free for all. The Princes just had more of it; by a certain point, for example, the son of a tanner will cease to see use in more education, especially theoretical education, if he is to inherit the family business. The Princes were taught in many advanced fields.”

“Right, like College?” Tony asked then thought to add, “It’s uh, the continuation of education after elementary, middle, and high school.”

“Oh. Then pretty much, yeah.”

“How does it work? Allspeak, I mean,” Tony clarified.

“Honestly, I’ve never bothered trying to find out. Loki’s probably got some books on it, ask him if you’re that curious.”

Tony nodded, making a mental note to ask him about it. If he could learn it, he wanted to. It would be an invaluable skill. He struggled to think of what else to ask to keep her distracted, falling silent the gentle chatter of the village reached their ears. “We need to work out the best way to do this,” Tony said gently. “How much do you drink a day?”

Valkyrie lifted the box, she lowered her eyes, a light blush colored her cheeks. “Half of this, I guess?”

Tony eyed the wide variety of different drinks. “Right. Well, I don’t know how different it’ll be for Asgardian--”

“Aesir.”

“ _Aesir_. But for us humans, going cold turkey could be fatal. Although you said you’ve been trying on and off? Did you go cold turkey?”

Valkyrie lifted an eyebrow. “The fuck is cold turkey?”

“Quitting outright. Going from half a box to nothing at all. Your body becomes accustomed to alcohol,” Tony looked over at her as they walked, her eyebrows were furrowed, deep in thought, “it becomes a physical need. So, if you go from that to nothing, it could cause problems, damage.”

Valkyrie’s usually inexpressive face ran through a range of emotions, thoughtful, guilt, shame, landing on a grudging acceptance. “No. I tried but I lasted less than a day. Mostly I’ve just cut down a bit.”

“Okay.” Tony nodded to himself. “We’ll need to figure out a tapering schedule just to be safe, and make it that much easier. Although,” Tony chuckled, “I’m not sure AA would be great for you considering they’re a… vaguely Christian organisation.”

“I heard that word when I went exploring at the beginning. What is it?”

“What? Christian? They’re a religious group. They believe in... this one God who created the world and His son who died and came back or some shit.” The image of taking Valkyrie and maybe some other Asgardians to a Church would keep him amused for a while. “Ask Cap about it, he is or was Catholic apparently.”

“ _One_ God? Do they still believe that? With us on Midgard? With _Thor?_ ”

“Some do. They just see you lot as very powerful people, not Gods.”

Valkyrie scoffed. “I knew this planet was full of idiots.”

“I could have told you that. I’m afraid, until our study of the ship you came in helps us reverse engineer it, you’re stuck here.”

“I thought you were going to help me get sober, not make me need a drink.”

Tony chuckled. “Right, sorry.”

After a moment, Valkyrie sighed and asked, “How’s that going?”

“Slowly. It’s badly damaged, both from my weapons and whatever happened on Asgard, but we’ll get there. We’ve got the best people looking at it.”

“Is that why you’re here instead?”

“Ohh, ouch! That hurts Val, it really hurts,” Tony laughed.

“You’ll get over it.” Valkyrie didn’t quite smirk but she had a sharp glint in her eye, she quickened her pace making Tony having to hurry after her.

“Anyway, back to the original point, let’s just say you drink ten bottles a day, cut it down one day at a time. After ten days, you stop. We should get medical advice on this though, speak to Loki--”

“No,” Valkyrie said firmly.

Tony frowned. “I thought you two made up?”

“We did. But I don’t want to go to Loki about this. Not yet.”

“Ah, okay,” Tony understood the need to keep it quiet, to not want to admit to having a problem, especially when it came to people you were closest to. He now knew how much having trusted people around you would help, but forcing her to tell people would only alienate her. “Well, any of the mediwitches or wizards…?”

“ _Seiðrmenn_.”

“Yeah that. Any _Seiðrmann_ would work. With how long you’ve been drinking, your body relies on it. I’d rather not tell you something that ends up harming you in the long run.”

“I don’t want this getting out, Stark,” Valkyrie reminded him sharply.

“It won’t,” Tony promised. They reached the edge of the village and Tony paused. “We might want to go around, walking in the middle of Nyrlif with all of this is going to draw attention.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

Tony rose an eyebrow. “Where’d you hear that saying?”

“Natasha.” Valkyrie turned on the balls of her feet to lead the way around the village.

Tony rolled his eyes and followed her around. They crossed the pathway to the farms where a few people saw them but nobody dared speak to them with Valkyrie glaring at them.

They had to go partway into the village as they hadn’t installed a backdoor into the community hall yet. Valkyrie kept the scowl on her face, managing to keep people away.

It had been the first building for the repairs to finish, ensuring it was structurally sound so that everybody with houses that had been destroyed had somewhere to sleep. Thankfully during the day there weren’t many people inside to watch them carry the crates of alcohol to the iceboxes. It was mostly used for parties, which happened more often than most small villages.

“You realise I’m probably going to go bankrupt just trying to keep this place stocked up,” Tony commented, he put his box down - his suit copying him - and opened one of the iceboxes.

“There are people in the process of brewing our own,” Valkyrie told him adding her own box to the pile. “We _do_ want to be self sufficient, you know.”

“I know--” Tony gestured for the suit to open up and multiple bottles, balanced before the walk, wobbled and a couple of them dropped out, smashed on the ground. Tony lunged to catch the rest of them, awkwardly pressing his body against his suit.

“What in Hel’s name are you doing?”

“It worked didn’t it?” Tony asked, his voice muffled as a bottle of vodka pressed against his mouth.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and reached across to take the bottles that were the most precarious. “You could have just closed it again.”

“This was faster,” Tony defended once he was able to step away from the suit. “You know you’re starting to look like Loki with the amount you roll your eyes.”

Valkyrie responded by rolling her eyes again, making it look purposefully over the top.

* * *

Tony made his way to Valkyrie’s place, a bag of shopping in one hand. He lifted his other hand to knock and heard retching coming from within. Changing his mind, Tony let himself into the cabin.

They had spoken to a healer, Gudrun, she had struggled to understand what was being asked of her at first. Once she understood, she explained the Aesir body could survive much more than a human, she suggested Valkyrie should be able to cut down an average of half a day.

Despite Tony telling her it’d be easier to do it slower, she decided to do it quickly and get it over with as soon as possible.

It was only the second day and not going well.

“Whoever the fuck that is, you can fuck right off,” he heard from the bathroom. Valkyrie’s voice, sounding rough.

“It’s just me,” Tony shouted back. He left the bag on Valkyrie’s chair and went in search through the multiple cupboards for a glass.

“Same goes for you. You poisoned me.” 

“You haven’t stabbed me yet, so I know you don’t believe that.” All he got in response was a groan. He filled a glass with water and took it to the bathroom, the stench of vomit hitting him harsher than he expected.

“You’ve barely got any food,” Tony pointed out sitting on the edge of the bath.

“I’m not hungry,” Valkyrie snapped.

“You need to eat, keep your strength up. And drink.” He thrust the glass at her.

Doing this reminded him of a few months ago when Peter got sick from some bio-weapon whilst May was out of town. Except Peter had just wanted to cuddle, where as he was pretty sure Valkyrie would stab him if he tried to hug her. Not that he wanted to - she was looking quite gross at the moment. He was pretty sure he could see a bit of vomit on the corner of her mouth.

She glared but took the glass, to rinse her mouth out and spitting it back into the toilet a few times before swallowing.

“Why the fuck is this happening?” Valkyrie groaned.

“I’ve told you. Your body is remembering that blood is supposed to run in your veins, not alcohol.”

She opened her mouth to respond but covered her mouth with a gagged and spun back to the toilet, dry heaving. Tony considered rubbing her back but doubted she would appreciate it from him.

“Why are you here, Stark?” she asked weakly, dropping her head on one of her arms that was crossed over the toilet bowl.

Tony picked at a loose thread in his pants as he considered his answer. He could easily make a joke right now, ease some of the tension, but he felt she needed a real response.

“I uh, I didn’t tell anybody when I quit the first time. I went through all this shit alone. Second time,” Tony forced himself to look up at her, even though she wasn’t looking at him, it was still hard. “Pep and Rhodey were there, whilst Rhodey was coming to terms to not having his legs. So, uh, I think that speaks for itself.”

“I don’t need you here because of some fucking pity,” she spat, but because she was hunched over a toilet, it kind of lost some of it’s bite. “I could kill you before you know what’s happening, even in this state.”

Tony shifted a few inches away from her. “Did I mention any pity? The fact that you’ve made this choice to quit makes me admire you. Though, if you repeat that outside this room, I’ll fight you in the Hulkbuster.” 

Valkyrie laughed at that. “You’ve got a suit to fight the Hulk?” 

“Veronica.” 

“My name is Valkyrie.”

Tony snorted with laughter. “Veronica is what I named the Hulkbuster.”

“You name your suits?”

“So?” 

Valkyrie laughed again and then groaned, dry heaving into the toilet. This time Tony did gently rub her back, relieved when he didn’t find a sword in his chest for the gesture. 

“C’mon, I’ll get you a bucket so you can at least sit on a comfortable chair.” 

“Where the Hel are you gonna get a bucket from?” 

Tony grabbed the small bin at the side of the toilet, poured the debris onto the floor and rinsed it out, leaving a little water at the bottom. Valkyrie rolled her eyes at him but willingly followed him to the living room. 

“You’re cleaning that up." Valkyrie dropped onto the couch and placed the bucket on the ground by her head.

“Get Loki to do it." Tony handed her a beer from the bag he had abandoned. “You’re allowed this before bed.”

Valkyrie snatched it from him and looked immediately ashamed at how eager she was. She downed half of it before saying, “You said second time."

Tony blinked, trying to think about what she was referring to. “Huh?”

“You quit for the second time.”

"Oh. Yeah. I relapsed.”

“What happened?”

He wanted to tell her the truth, the horrible truth about finding out his parents were murdered, about how Steve’s betrayal really felt. Especially with the anniversary of his parents death coming up. He knew it might help to talk about it, especially to a third party that hadn’t been involved in any of it would probably be good, but the words got stuck in his throat. Instead, he said, “Drink your beer, but don’t forget the water. You need to stay hydrated.”

Valkyrie took the hint and didn’t ask anything more. They sat in silence for a few minutes, except for the gentle slurping of Valkyrie drinking.

Tony eyed Valkyrie up, she was pale and shaking slightly, face sheened with sweat, but her eyes fluttered closed in ecstasy as she sipped at her beer.

His chest started aching, it was too tight, the multiple reconstruction surgeries coming back to haunt him. God, he wants to take out the rest of her beers and drink them, go back to the community hall where most of the drinks still sat in the icebox.

Tony stood up abruptly. He needed fresh air. "I'll be back later."

“Where are you going?”

It was a testament to how bad she must be feeling for her to say that, especially sounding so pitiful.

Tony pulled his jacket on and said, “I need some air. You should get some too.”

“There’s air in here. So, feel free to let me be,” she snapped, doing a full 180 from seconds ago.

“Laters!” He sent her the peace sign on his way out.

He didn’t dare go into the main village, with the tavan and the community hall alcohol. He didn’t trust himself enough. Instead, he went for a walk around the forest and towards the lake. Ylva and Loki both stood on the shore. In front of them, a couple of feet above the lake was a blob of water that had the rough shape of a house.

The lake had finally begun to melt since the attack. It reflected how well the rest of the village was healing over the last few weeks. The repairs most of the way finished. Despite how much Tony still distrusted Loki, he had saved their lives at great detriment to his own health. He heard from the reports, that Loki had been given the chance to turn on them, to join the Jotun army, but chose Thor.

Tony couldn’t trust him, not fully, but he was starting to trust his allegiance to Thor.

Tony took a step towards them, beneath his feet a branch cracked. He watched in what felt like slow motion as the blob of water Ylva held came soaring towards him. The icy water struck him, covering him head to toe, pulling the air from his lungs, freezing him.

“Oh-- Mr Iron Stark Man!” Ylva gasped, the name reminded him of Peter. “I’m so sorry. You scared me.”

Tony struggled for a moment to get his breath back enough to speak.

“No harm done.” Tony forced out a laugh, not wanting her to feel bad when all she had done was defend herself. He tried not to feel too irritated at the sight of Loki smirking, barely holding back a laugh. “Any chance you’ve got a warming spell of some form? Before I get hypothermic.” He wasn’t wearing the right clothes for this weather, let alone whilst soaking wet, the ice cold wind was already starting to make him shiver, his teeth chattered together painfully.

“I can try.” She stared at him, after a moment Tony felt the air warming around him, quickly drying him. “Is that working?”

“It is. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Ylva smiled shyly.

Loki glanced around behind him as though he was looking for something. “Why are you here, Stark?”

“Just came for a walk.” He walked closer to them, to stand on the shore. “Saw what you were doing, it was pretty cool.”

“Thank you,” Ylva siad, her voice immediately relaxing with a familiar topic. “I was practicing delicacy and control, making pictures with the water and holding it up for as long as I could.”

“Could you show me one?”

The heat around him disappeared in an instant, the sudden cold wind was almost as shocking as the water. Tony hugged his arms around himself, his clothes were still slightly damp but he didn’t want to distract Ylva again.

Another large blob of water rose a few feet above the water.

The water spun around and begun to get thinner in some areas and thicker in others until a shape of a human started to appear. Tony watched fascinated as the person started to take more form until he realised it was himself. Well, the Iron Man suit.

“Holy shit.”

“Mother said that’s a bad word that people shouldn’t say.”

“She’s _absolutely_ right,” Tony said gravely, Loki chuckled. “Always listen to your mother. But, in all seriousness, Ylva that’s incredible.” Tony pulled his slightly damp phone from his pocket and snapped a picture.

“Thank you,” Ylva glanced up at him, smiling shyly.

The water dropped back into the lake causing a small ripple that spread across the lake and became a gentle wave that lapped at their shoes. “Mind if I stay a while?”

“I don’t mind.”

Tony glanced over at Loki again, a small part of him expected Loki to have a problem with it but when Loki didn’t react Tony stepped back, hopefully out of wave range. He sat down hugging his knees to his chest to watch.

Ylva lifted another large blob which started to take shape into a flower with an intricate design etched into each petal.

He watched for a while until he felt like he could breathe again, like he could return to Valkyrie without losing his cool and having a drink.

“Right, I’ve gotta go. You good?”

“Yeah. Goodbye.”

“See you later, alligator.” Ylva broke concentration to look at him with a frown, the clock face she was making dropped back into the water with a larger splash than before. Tony laughed, “You then say, in a while, crocodile.”

“... _Why_?” Both Ylva and Loki had the same expressions of complete bewilderment as they stared at Tony. “We are not reptiles.”

“I don’t know,” Tony said as he shrugged, “it’s a thing. It rhymes.”

Ylva stared at him for another few moments before saying dubiously, “In a while, crocodile?”

“There we go,” Tony ruffled her hair gently, waved at Loki, and walked away, back towards Valkyrie’s cabin.

* * *

“So, tell me about Sakaar?” Tony asked the next day, from where he sat on the floor across from Valkyrie, surrounded by his Iron Man armor in multiple pieces to tinker with. The nanotech armor was almost completed, but he could only work on that in his lab.

He couldn’t be alone, not this week. In two days it would be the 16th. Looking after Valkyrie was the perfect excuse, and distraction.

Valkyrie was wearing just a t-shirt and shorts, having become quite fond of Earth fashion it seemed. She was lying on the sofa, curled up on herself, shivering.

“A shithole with a lot of orgies and alcohol,” Valkyrie replied harshly.

“Sounds fun.” 

“It was,” Valkyrie sounded almost wistful for a moment. “Until those idiot brothers made me leave.”

”You made the choice to leave didn’t you? Or did they drag you out?” Tony had only heard one side of the story from Thor and Bruce, and a few muttered comments from Loki.

Valkyrie shrugged, most movement awkward from her angle. “Loki reminded me of my stupid sense of honor and why Hela needed to die. I hate him for it.”

Tony snorted. “I know that feeling.” He risked looking up at her; she was caked in sweat and shivering. “Drink. You’re losing fluids.”

“Fuck you.” She sat up enough to take a sip of the water anyway.

“You can have a beer in an hour,” he said instead.

“How’d you become Metal Man anyway?” Valkyrie asked, putting the glass on the table and lying back down.

“Iron Man.”

Valkyrie lifted an eyebrow in a clear, ‘I don’t care’ manner.

Tony often forgot the Aesir were new to this planet, where everybody knew his story so he never needed to tell it. He turned his attention back on his armour, needing a distraction from the memories.

“I was kidnapped. Made a suit to escape. Kept on making suits.” He shrugged, not really wanting to elaborate further. It wasn’t exactly a high point for him.

“I thought you loved the sound of your voice. C’mon, tell me more,” Valkyrie pressured. “Why were you kidnapped - was it cause you’re rich?”

Tony sighed. “I used to make weapons for America. Powerful weapons. The bad guys wanted me to make weapons for them.” 

“Did you?”

“No,” Tony said shortly, hoping she would get the message and change the subject.

Valkyrie didn’t reply for a few moments and then said quietly, “You said the other day that you’d done fine under torture in the past.”

Tony pulled in a shaky breath. “Yup.”

“Sorry.”

Tony stared down at his Iron Man gauntlet not wanting to see Valkyrie’s expression. Tony took a few deep breaths until he felt like he had more control and smiled up at her. “So, would you go back?”

“To Sakaar? Probably, but only so I can leave this shithole.”

“Aw, c’mon Earth isn’t that bad,” Tony defended half heartedly.

“Do you know when I first arrived, I travelled for a bit?” Tony nodded. He had kept an eye on her since, at the time, she was a stranger, and he hadn’t known if he could trust her. “Well, in New York I heard a fight, so I went to check it out. This… kid in a tight red costume was fighting these guys that tried to hurt some girl. Kid had it handled but I stepped in, helped them out. The woman, she was terrified.”

“Wait, Spider-Man?” Tony resisted the urge to text Peter, he was going to lose it when he found out he met one of the Asgardians.

“Uh, yeah? I guess? He had a picture of a spider on his costume. Is that what you’re focusing on?”

“No, sorry. I know, shit things happen. I mean something like that…” Tony shook his head. “It’s disgusting, but then there’s people like Spider-Man that go around and stop this, that try to _help_ people. Life is a pile of good things and really shit things, the good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't always spoil the good things and make them unimportant.”

Valkyrie stared at him, eyebrows raised. “Wise words.”

“A quote from some TV show Pe-- Spider-Man made me watch. Oh!” Tony sat up straight, excited. “We should have a movie night.”

“What?”

“We need a movie night, films. That’s a point, there’s no TV’s here are there?” Tony pulled out his phone to order one for a movie night, making a mental list of films he expected Valkyrie to enjoy, starting with _Star Wars,_ get her to quote it if he ever brings the kid down here.

He looked back at her ready to tell her it would arrive tomorrow, but cut himself off when he saw her eyes were closed, she was breathing steadily. Tony put his phone down and stood to cover her with a blanket and turned his attention on the suit pieces, careful not to make much noise.

A while later, he heard muttering from Valkyrie. “No-- no, please don’t. Arnnbjörga--” Tony glanced up wondering who she was talking to. Her eyes were clenched shut, and she was shaking, whimpering in her sleep.

Tony stood and pressed the back of his hand against her forehead. It felt like she was burning up, but he couldn’t quite tell since the Aesir body temperature seemed to greatly vary. He found his comm and put it in. “Hey, is anyone on this channel?” 

“Tony?” Steve answered, “everything alright?”

“Anyone else?” Silence. “...No? Fine. Rogers, can you send a healer to Valkyrie’s? Preferably Gudrun, if she’s available.” 

Silence for a moment and then he heard Steve talking to somebody quietly. As he waited, Tony moved the pieces of his suit out of the way. “She’s on her way,” Steve said finally. “Is Valkyrie okay?”

“She’s fine… thank you.” He looked back down at Valkyrie, he wanted to move her somewhere more comfortable but he was hesitant. If she woke up in the midst of a fever dream, it’s likely he could be stabbed. Instead, he found a cloth in the kitchen, damped it and placed it on her forehead in a futile cool her until Gudrun arrived.

“Arnnbjörga,” Valkyrie murmured again, “Arnnbjörga. Please.” She moaned and twisted. 

The door opened and Gudrun came in. “Mr Stark, how is she?” 

“Not great. Her fever spiked, I think.” He moved away from the chair to let Gudrun to kneel down beside Valkyrie.

Tony watched her put her hand on Valkyrie’s forehead and close her eyes. “Prince Loki would be better suited for this form of magic,” Gudrun said, looking up at Tony. 

“I thought he wasn’t trained in healing?”

“He‘s not, but we are trying to cool her internal temperature. Prince Loki’s magic is more suited towards the cold due to his heritage.”

Tony thought, running his hand through his hair. “I don’t think she wants him to see her like this. I’ve tried to tell her that a support network helps, but she hasn’t listened.”

Gudrun brought out some black stones out of a small velvet bag and placed them on the sofa around Valkyrie. Tony saw runes drawn on each of the stones. Gudrun sat down at Valkyries head and placed her hands on either side of Valkyrie’s head and closed her eyes. She started talking quietly and her hands started glowing a light blue, soft whispers of it drifted out of them, towards Valkyrie.

Tony watched her, hoping Valkyrie wouldn’t kill him for letting Gudrun see her in such a vulnerable state.

Slowly, the colour returned to Valkyries’ features and she relaxed. “Is she okay?” Tony asked once Gudrun removed her hands and started packing up the stones.

“She is. The fever has lessened its hold.”

“Thank you.” Tony re-adjusted the blanket over her.

Gudrun stopped in the doorway, looking back at them both, concern shining in her eyes. “I know you say Valkyrie does not want people seeing her like this… but I’m glad Valkyrie has you to look after her. Please, do not hesitate to call should she need me again.”

“I will,” Tony promised. He saw the healer out, only to see Steve coming towards the house.

Tony considered ignoring him, but knew he'd just end up more annoyed when Steve didn't let up.

Tony stepped outside, closing the door behind himself. “What do you want, Rogers?”

"I was just concerned about Valkyrie,” Steve said softly, sounding like he was trying to calm a wounded animal. God, he was so insufferable.

"Well, she's fine now.”

Steve glanced back at the door. "Can I talk to her?"

"She's sleeping."

“Right. Okay.” Steve still looked concerned. "No offense, but--"

"Why is it whenever people say 'no offence' you always know you're about to be offended?"

"You are Valkyrie aren't exactly close,” Steve said irritably. “I've never seen you two talk outside of insulting each other."

"Pay more attention then."

"Tony--"

“She’s fine, Steve. She’s just going through something and I really can’t be around you this week, okay?”

“This week?” Steve asked. Tony ignored him, turning back into the house. He counted down ten seconds, letting out a breath when Steve didn’t knock.

Tony went back to tinkering. He found his gaze wandering to where the cold box sat, only a few beers left for Valkyrie within. He knew the code; Valkyrie didn't. He could take one, replace it tomorrow, Valkyrie would never know. He rubbed at the scars on his chest. One drink always helped with that pain.

He stood and started towards the box, he knelt down to put in the passcode before he froze, putting his hand back swiftly. "What the fuck, Tony?" Tony scrambled backwards, away from the box. “Fuck. Bad idea, don’t go there.”

“The fuck are you talking to?” Valkyrie demanded, eyes still closed. She was trying so hard to do this, if he gave in now, he was risking her sobriety too.

As Matt, his sponsor, would always say: five more minutes.

“Myself. Sorry for waking you. How are you feeling?”

“Freak.” Valkyrie sat up rubbing her eyes. “Better than when I went to sleep.”

“Your fever went up for a bit a while there. Gudrun came and lowered it.” Tony readied himself for her anger but instead Valkyrie stared at him, frowning.

“You alright, Tony?”

Tony paused, surprised at the genuine her concern in her voice and that she used his first name, he wondered if her temperature was still too high. “I’m fine.”

Valkyrie stared for a moment longer before standing up, dropping the blanket, she frowned at it for a second before saying, “I’m gonna eat something whilst I’m feeling up to it. At the community hall. Wanna come?”

“Sure.”

* * *

The next morning, Tony went back to the cabin, as he stepped into the clearing, he heard shouting and then saw a green figure being thrown from Brunnhilde’s front door. Tony jogged ahead to where Loki was picking himself up, the grass beneath him pressed down, skid marks leading up to where Loki had been deposited.

“Stark,” Loki greeted causally, rubbing his muddy thigh. “Brunnhilde is not in the mood for company at the moment.” 

“Throw you out, did she?” Tony didn’t bother trying to hold back his grin.

Sometimes Tony wondered if Loki was being purposefully dramatic when he rolled his eyes hard enough for his head to turn with his eyes and then stalked off. 

Tony let himself back into Valkyrie’s house, grin still plastered on his face. “I feel special.” 

Valkyrie was draped across the sofa again, covered in a blanket. “Why?”

“You throw Loki out, but I’m allowed in,” he said playfully, swanning around to sit on the ground again between the pieces of suit he left here the night before.

“That would be because you’re a parasite that won’t leave. Loki tends to get the hint when he’s not wanted.” 

Tony went straight back to tinkering with his suit, chewing thoughtfully on the fries as he looked up at Valkyrie. “Yeah? Well, he seems to be pretty dense on the hints the Avengers have been sending out.”

Valkyrie threw the blanket off and sat up, her eyes narrowed and dark. “He knows he’s not wanted, you _dick_. How do you think it feels to not be wanted in the _only_ place you can be? His brother is here. His _friends_ are here.”

Tony winced, recoiling at the anger on her face. “Okay, you’re right, sorry. Anyway, we don’t have as much of a problem now. He did help us out quite a bit during the fight.”

“Quite a bit?” she repeated, obviously offended on Loki’s behalf.

“Fine, he saved our asses.”

“There we go. By the Norns, if I was feeling well enough to move again, I’d throw you out.”

“Except you wouldn’t cause you love me.” Valkyrie rose an eyebrow at him. “Like me? … Tolerate me?” She was silent. “Wow, you’re great for a guy’s ego.” 

Valkyrie laughed and then groaned, running a hand through her hair. “I’d like you more if you had brought breakfast.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “I can cook. Well, Wanda’s been teaching me.”

“Perfect. I’m gonna shower.”

Tony pushed himself to his feet and went into the kitchen to see what she had.

He eventually decided on an omelette, which was the first thing he got Wanda to teach him how to make. He served them up and went back out into the living room to find it empty. Tony put the omelettes down and went to the bedroom.

He knocked and pushed the door open. “Hey, Val, I made an om--” he cut himself off when he leant in the bedroom doorway to find Valkyrie half under her bed. “What _are_ you doing?” Tony asked.

Valkyrie climbed to her feet and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I was looking for a drink - I thought I had one down here.” Tony didn’t know what to say, he thought things were going better. It had seemed like she was in a good mood. When he didn’t answer, Valkyrie made a frustrated gesture and spun to continue rummaging. “I’m done, okay? I need a fucking drink.”

“Val--”

“I feel like shit. I go to sleep feeling like shit. I wake up feeling like shit. I never feel like shit when I drink, alright? I’ll just drink less. I was doing fine on my own.”

She stopped searching and stepped up to him. Tony held his ground in front of the door. It had been three days since her last drink. “You know it doesn’t work like that.”

“I’ll make it work.” When he didn’t move, Valkyrie pushed him out of the way. Tony stumbled, hitting his left arm hard on the wall making him yelp in pain as he felt it crack.

Tony held his arm close to his chest. “I can’t stop you,” Tony shouted out to her. Valkyrie stopped in the open doorway, cold air drifting in. “I mean, I probably could, my suits tend to circle this area. But I’m not going to do that. You know you don’t really want to give up.” 

Valkyrie turned to face him, her voice breaking as she said, “I can’t do this, Tony.” 

“If I can do it, you definitely can.”

“ _You_ relapsed!" Valkyrie yelled, jabbing a finger towards him, eyes filling with tears.

“You, Valkyrie, are much stronger than me.”

“I hid on Sakaar for _centuries_. Is that strength?” Her voice broke on the last word.

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Tony said flippintly, but his voice quickly turned serious as he continued, “but you _left_. You helped Thor. _That’s_ strength.” 

"I don't _want_ to be strong." She might be hundreds, maybe even thousands of years older than him, but suddenly she looked so young, staring at him with such wide, _scared_ eyes. 

"It's worth it, Val." He opened his arms and approached her, slowly, as if trying to calm a scared animal. Valkyrie stood still, one hand still gripping the front door, a light shiver running through her. Tony gathered her into his arms and Valkyrie finally released the door, relaxing into him, pushing her head into his neck.

Tony rubbed her back gently, with his uninjured arm. She had let him in whilst sick, asleep, angry, but this was the first time that Tony felt like she was letting him see the real her. Trusting him not to pity her.

After a few moments she sniffed and pulled back, eyes hard but refusing to look him in the eye. She swallowed a few times and then, gasped, “Your wrist, it's swollen."

"Huh? Oh, it's fine." He was used to ignoring pain, especially in his wrist, broken too many times in the past.

"No, it's not." She took his arm gently in her hands and inspected it. "That's my fault. Shit, I'm sorry. I think it's broken, c'mon, let’s go to a healer."

"I don’t think it’s broken.”

"Well, it's definitely injured, ego: healer." She gripped his elbow and tried to pull him through the door.

“The omelettes are getting cold,” Tony tried one more time, he wasn't quite sure why he was so against going to see a healer.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes and picked one up, taking a massive bite, and then grabbed his elbow again and pull him out the door. "Okay, okay. I'm going, you don't have to drag me." 

Valkyrie glanced up at him, before looking away embarrassed and releasing his elbow. "Loki’ll usually at the lake around now, he can help. Unless you’ll prefer another healer?"

"Loki." He still wasn't sure he trusted Loki but he didn't want to go into the main town and draw attention to himself.

* * *

Sure enough, Loki was sat crossed legged on a rock by the beach, eyes closed and didn't seem to be moving, not even breathing. Ylva sat in a similar position beside him.

“Even better. Oi, Ylva!" Valkyrie shouted across the beach as they walked towards them.

Ylva’s eyes shot open and she spun around on the rock causing her to slip. With his eyes still closed, Loki reached out and grabbed her arm, keeping her in place.

He opened his eyes and rose one eyebrow at Ylva. “What did you do wrong?” Loki asked smoothly.

“I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings. They were about to sneak up on me.”

“Correct. The same problem you had when you soaked Stark last week. We shall practice this later.”

“Okay!” Ylva jumped off the rock to join Valkyrie and Tony. Behind her, Loki untangled himself to slide to the ground with such grace Tony couldn't help feeling jealous.

“Need your healing skills, Ylva, if you don’t mind?” Valkyrie asked once she reached them.

“Sure.” Ylva looked between them searching, her eyes lingered on his arm, cradled into his chest. “Did you hurt your arm, Mr Stark?”

"My wrist, yeah. Hit it on the doorframe," Tony admitted, he didn’t want to mention Valkyrie pushed him, he didn’t blame her. “I’ve broken it in the past, few times actually.”

“Can I see it?” She held her hand out.

Tony held his arm out between them, Ylva took his elbow gently and glanced back at Loki to ask, “Do you have any healing stones or charcoal?”

Loki cocked his head to the side. “Do you need it?”

“Healer Lagertha said it’s a good idea to help channel my magic until I’m better.”

Loki waved a hand and through a green haze, a black pot appeared in his hands. Tony still didn’t know if he was curious or terrified of that. “Ensure that you do not come to rely on anything physical for your magic,” Loki added, as he handed the pot to Ylva, which was full of the same black goop he’d seen Loki and Gudrun use.

“I’ll be careful,” Ylva promised before dropping to the ground, legs crossed.

“Why did you have to make it with Rhodey, instead of… making it?” Tony frowned at his own wording. “I mean--”

“I cannot create these items with _seiðr_ ,” Loki interrupted, “I had it… available to me.”

Before Tony could go into whatever could mean, Ylva asked him to sit down.

Tony sat down opposite her, mirroring her crossed leg position and rested his elbow on his knee so his wrist was between them both.

Ylva dipped a slim finger into the pot and used to goop to draw runes on the inside of Tony’s wrist and forearm. Tony hissed when she pressed a bit too hard.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Tony brushed off her apologies. “Why aren’t you using the stones and that… stuff? You used them together.”

“Don’t need them. It’s used to channel and concentrate my magic but I’m pretty good at channeling it,” Ylva explained, “If you’re terrible at that, you need more… channels.” She looked up at him sheepishly.

Loki sighed, he had sat down beside Ylva, watching them closely. “Think of them like road signs. The more you have, the easier it is to point your magic in the right direction, and to ensure the energy is being used how we want it to be. Each of the those items Ylva is drawing means something different. This one,” Loki pointed at one that looked like the Bluetooth icon, “is for healing, this is for strength,” he pointed at a crooked n. “As Ylva is well versed in healing seiðr, she does not need any more road signs than she currently has,” Loki said the last part quite pointedly and Ylva stopped drawing.

“Why did you use them together then, oh so powerful one?”

Loki’s eyes darkened, Valkyrie shifted slightly bringing his attention to her. With a sigh he said, “I am not well versed in healing _seiðr_. Plus, Rhodes and Barnes issues were more complicated. Risky.”

Ylva put a hand on the outside of his forearm and his wrist, careful not to smudge the runes and closed her eyes.

Tony watched his wrist, curious to see what would happen. He couldn’t see anything until a few moments had passed, his wrist began to itch. After a few moments of the itching getting worse, Tony sat on his other hand so he didn't scratch it whilst Ylva was doing her thing. After another few moments, the itch turned into a throb. Tony had to bite his lip to keep from crying out. He focused his attention on his wrist, the swelling started to go down, like a balloon deflating. Thankfully the itching started to fade.

Finally, Ylva opened her eyes and the pain thankfully dissipated. "It was a break but it is healed. I would be careful in using it for a few days."

"Thank you,” Tony said seriously, his wrist was looking more red than usual but the swelling had completely gone.

“You’re welcome!”

“Can I wash this stuff off?”

“Yeah.”

Tony knelt by the water gasping as the icy water soaked through his jeans. He stuck his forearm under, goosebumps came up, covering his arm.

He used the other hand to rub off the stubborn gunk. It felt like sandy mud, gritty beneath his fingers as he scrubbed it, scratching the phantom itch. He watched, strangely fascinated, as the gentle waves carried it away, disappearing, mixing in with the light froth and other bits of mud and weed.

* * *

Space was fucking terrifying, but spaceships were rather cool.

He knew he was already living in a sci-fi movie, but he still felt a sense of childish joy at the idea of being in a spaceship.

The Asgardians had finally arrived, after a month of preparation and Tony was allowed to look at them. The large mothership the first Asgardians had come in had been shot down by his own technology. He was proud his technology was good enough to damage a space ship – although it had already been damaged - but it was disappointing that he had less to play with. Now he had a hyperdrive all to himself (well, and Bruce) and it was _perfect_. 

He was standing in one of the ships a couple of days after the party, when there was a knocking on the metal outside. Tony spun around to see Valkyrie standing on the other side, shaking slightly. She wouldn't look him in the eye. His stomach dropped.

"Val? What's up?"

"I uh... I thought I should— I mean, I wanted to tell you. Cause you were there for me, so. I um.” She took a deep breath. “I relapsed,” she said it flippintantly but the way she immediately looked down at her hands that she was wringing together, showed how nervous she was to tell him.

Tony managed to keep his reaction calm and concerned, rather than the disappointment that tried to worm it's way into his voice. Tony reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "Hey." She looked up at him, once again looking younger than her true incomprehensible age. "It's okay. What happened?"

He led her to the nearby chair - the same chair he had internally dubbed the Captain's chair sat on specifically to say: 'Warp speed 5, Mr Sulu.'

Valkyrie shrugged. "I don't know. I just-- Loki, he hadn't told me something important that Sif knew about,” Tony frowned, trying to connect the dots, “and I drank one small beer to feel better, and then the next thing I knew Loki and Banner were helping me home because I couldn't fucking walk straight." 

Tony nodded. “Did I tell you about when I relapsed?” Valkyrie shook her head. “It was a few days after I was released from the hospital. I just found a bottle of vodka in the freezer, one that had been missed in the clean out, and I… well I drank it. Pepper was the one that found me in the bathroom, passed out in my own vomit."

"Why were you in hospital?”

“That’s part of a longer story.” He still wasn’t ready to tell her about that. “Now, the way I see it, you have a choice: to keep going for a few more weeks like I did, to push back all of the progress you’ve made.” Tony paused to let his words sink in. “Or to pass yesterday off as a shitty day and try again. This time, remember you can call me if you need to talk or just… not drink together."

Valkyrie laughed nervously. “Thank you, Tony.”

Tony grinned, “You’re welcome, Val-- Brunnhilde.”

“Now, can you walk back in and say ‘hailing on all frequencies, Captain’?”

Valkyrie blinked a few times and asked, “ _Why_? You’re not a Captain.”

Tony sighed and looped his arm through hers to lead her out of the ship. “Cancel all your plans, we’re having a TV show slash movie night tonight.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to sleepyMoritz for beta'ing!
> 
> All comments and concrit are always very welcome. You can find me at McShepKree on Tumblr!


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